The Best Laid Plans...

This is so not the way today was supposed to go.

And I'm not even talking about the part where I woke up this morning with an itchy red rash covering my stomach and back, wordlessly proclaiming that, hey, guess what, I'm allergic to that antibiotic the doctor just prescribed.

It was actually tonight that got all fubar'd.

OK, here is how tonight was supposed to go.  First of all, Dancing with the Stars was supposed to be an hour and a half long.  Seriously.  It was.

See, I was going to come home from work and have a nice, healthy dinner.  Around 7:30, I would head off to my friend Debra's house (Debra actually lives in the same building as I do, but she's temporarily moved out during the renovations).  Debra would make cookies (low fat chocolate chip cookies!) and we would enjoy said cookies from 8:00 - 9:30 while mocking the contestants on Dancing with the Stars.  I'd stay and chat for another half-hour, then head home.

Once home, I'd put in a load of laundry (my last before the trip -- washing those very last few "delicates"), and pay my bills.  I'd watch the 24 finale, and wait for my friends Marty and Linda to drop by.  They were supposed to come by around 10:30, on their way home from the Dodger game, and pick up a key so they could do their part in taking care of Jasmine  (largely:  playing with her) while I'm away.  I'd pack up a few more items, and be all ready for bed by around 11:30.  12:00 at the latest.

OK, here's what actually happened.

Dancing with the Stars was only an hour, but Debra and I failed to notice this.  Debra was a little late in getting home from dinner, so I didn't go over there until 8:15.  At the time, we discovered that there was only 45 minutes of Dancing with the Stars left, so we watched it, and didn't commence with the cookie-making until the show was over, at 9:00.

At 9:15, Linda called, saying she and Marty left the Dodger game early, and could I be at my place in ten minutes to give them the key.

I drove home just as Debra was putting the first batch of cookies in the oven, promising to hand off the key to Martyand Linda, throw the laundry in the washer, and be back before the cookies came out.

Drove home.  Marty & Linda were waiting for me.  I invited them up, gave them their key, showed them Jasmine's toys and favorite hiding places, and sent them off.  I was about to leave when I noticed it.

In the middle of my bed.

The cat barf.

OK, slight change in plans.  I strip the cover off my comforter, apply generous amounts of Shout, and shove the cover in my washer.  The comforter itself will not fit in my washer -- but Debra has a large capacity washer in her condo.  I call her and get permission to break into her unit to wash and dry the comforter (I have a key for emergencies, but I didn't know if cat barf in the middle of my bed constitutes an emergency.  Well, it's not an emergency for anyone who doesn't have to sleep in my bed.)  I load the comforter into her washer and set it on the "sanitary" cycle.  The washer cheerfully displays that this cycle will take one hour and forty-three minutes.  I leave.  I come back to my unit and think I should probably wash my sheet too, just to be safe.  I turn off the washer, strip the bed, and add my sheet to the wash with the comforter cover. 

I drive back to Debra's house.  By now, I've missed the first batch of cookies and the second batch is about to come out of the oven.  It's about 10:15 and, with morbid curiosity, we tune in to see who The Bachelor is going to dump even though we haven't watched the show this season. 

I toss back a bunch of cookies, hot out of the oven.  We mock Lt. Andy for awhile.  The Bachelor ends, and I stay over Debra's house a bit more.  By 11:20, I head out.  It may be time to put my comforter in the dryer.

I come back to the condo.  Debra's washer needs another 11 minutes on the comforter, so I go upstairs to my unit to at least get the comforter cover and sheet going in my dryer. 

Except I can't do that. 

Because I never turned the machine back on when I'd turned it off to add the sheet.

At present:  12:27 a.m.  Comforter cover and sheet in dryer; may actually be dry within the next half hour.  Comforter spinning away downstairs in large capacity dryer.  Should take hours.  Must visit it every half hour to pull it out of the dryer and rearrange it so it dries evenly.  No bills paid, no 24 watched, no delicates washed, no packing done.

Sigh.

Rash still itches.